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Anyone switching from brown rice after Consumer reports arsenic study?


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http://news.consumerreports.org/health/2012/09/fda-illinois-attorney-general-find-levels-of-arsenic-in-rice-comparable-to-consumer-reports-findings.html

 

I priced some of their lowest arsenic ranked rice -

Archer Farms (Target) and Lundberg Organic White Basmati - way to expensive.

 

I'm switching to cheap Aldi white rice for now, bc white has such lower levels than brown in general. The arsenic is absorbed in the outer layer mostly.

 

Just wondering. We eat brown rice 2x a week, so I feel the switch is justified and will up the fiber difference elsewhere. I regret all the rice cereal my children ate, but it is too late now.

 

Anyone else concerned?

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Lundberg is working on trying to reduce the arsenic levels, as are some others. I'll still use their brown rice, but I will continue to rinse well & soak, which helps reduce the levels. I agree Lundberg is more costly, although less costly when bought in bulk. I want to support their efforts. They are an American company with a long history of being good caretakers of their land.

Edited by LibraryLover
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I used to live in Nepal where the entire population eats rice twice per day. We had a wonderful Nepali lady whom we hired to cook and do housework for us. One day we asked her if she would make us brown rice instead of white rice since we thought it was healthier. She adamantly refused, saying that the brown rice was only fit for a dog. I guess she was right!!!

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:iagree: It is right to be concerned.

 

I was trying to find a good organic baby formula to supplement for my baby.

 

That is how I found out about the arsenic.

 

The Brown Rice Syrup is the culprit in formula : it it supposed to be highly concentrated in the syrup.

 

I also buy organic brown rice in bulk from our local food co op and I do not know the company name so I will find out and try to contact them to see if they are taking any measures to reduce the arsenic.

 

In the meantime. We have not been eating any rice at all while I have been a little shell shocked and waiting on more evidence.

 

I did read that if the brown rice is rinsed, cooked in 6 cups of water per 1 cup of rice, then it will remove about 30 % of the arsenic.

 

I don't know how much is in white rice, but did read that it is in both but of course a higher level is retained in the brown.

 

We have been eating more sweet potatoes ( home grown) and potatoes ( Organic red) are still growing here.

 

We usually eat rice with salmon, and mexican dishes as well as some chicken dishes. I love rice and don't want to have to give it up totally!

 

I just saw a thread on budget eating and rice was mentioned in some threads... so I am glad you are asking about the arsenic.

 

 

ALSO: I WAS RECENTLY IN A STORE WHERE THE LADY PUTTING OUT GROCERIES WARNED ME ABOUT THE ARSENIC IN BROWN RICE. SHE SAID HER COUSIN EATS ALOT OF RICE AND ALMOST DIED. HIS HAIR WAS FALLING OUT IN CHUNKS AND HE FELT HORRIBLE. HE GOT TO THE HOSPITAL JUST IN TIME AND THEY CONFIRMED IT WAS ARSENIC.

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I am letting my kids choose white rice with less guilt. ;)

 

We usually have rice with salmon. Last time I bought rice, I made sure it was from India or Thailand. My whole family prefers white rice, so I've been buying some of each. Maybe I should just buy white. :confused: In many cases, I've been serving up extra veggie sides in place of dishes I might usually serve rice with.

 

We eat rice crackers, and those are harder to replace than rice. I might rather use my weekly rice quota on those. :tongue_smilie:

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I already cut way back on rice when we switched to whole grain - not because of arsenic ('cause I didn't know) but because brown rice takes 45 minutes to cook, and I'm lazy. Since we don't eat it that often (less than 1x/month?), I probably won't cut back more than I already have.

 

ww pasta, kasha, quinoa are my most frequent sides (the first two take 10 min., unless it's couscous, which is only 5 min., the latter 20 min). In soups I use barley rather than rice - always preferred barley to rice in soups anyway.

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I've always rinsed my rice well, but I've started to soak brown rice for a couple hours in plenty of water, discarding the soaking water. Otherwise I prepare it the same as always.

Edited by nmoira
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I switched to white rice (usually jasmine or basmati) a while back because brown rice always gave me a stomach ache. I only wish they would make the pasta in white rice instead of brown since we do eat that on occasion. Other than that we are mostly grain free anyway. Pretty soon there will be no safe food to eat!

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Well, I grew up with well water that had too much arsenic (it passed the old standard but when Pres. Clinton reduced the limit, my folks had to put in an expensive filtration system). So at this point, I feel that the damage has already been done in terms of my health, and I'm not going to stress out about whatever arsenic there might be in my brown rice.

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Good grief! Life goes crazy for a bit, you don't have a chance to log on for a few weeks, and look how far behind you get on these important topics! Thanks for posting this. I had not heard about this, and was about to buy a new bag of rice this afternoon. Glad I read this first!

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I thought brown rice from California was ok. That's the rice we get in bulk. Am I wrong?

 

Beth

 

Anywhere rice is grown in old cotton fields, its arsenic levels are likely to be high. Cotton was grown in CA, too, and its rice can have high arsenic. Sorry.

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Anywhere rice is grown in old cotton fields, its arsenic levels are likely to be high. Cotton was grown in CA, too, and its rice can have high arsenic. Sorry.

 

Actually, the arsenic in the CA rice came from chicken manure that came from chickens fed arsenic. They are fed organic arsenic (which is not so toxic) to make their flesh look pink, but when their bodies metabolize it it turns into inorganic arsenic (toxic) and passes into the chicken manure they spread on the rice fields.

 

I don't believe the rice paddies in CA were formerly used for cotton. Lundberg farms (organic) has pledged to stop using the arsenic-filled chicken manure on their crops, but I'm sure it will take a while for the stuff already in the soil to dissipate...

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I'm trying to cut rice out of our diet. It's hard when you're gluten free and have other grain allergies too. I cut out my son's favorite granola bars as they have not only brown rice but brown rice syrup as well. I'm still doing some rice though as I can't figure out what to replace with yet. I am sick about how much brown rice we've eaten over the years and those granola bars especially bother me. My son ate tons of them.

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What are the effects of arsenic, health wise? I remember reading some place that low doses of arsenic were actually beneficial.

 

Acute, high dose exposure has different effects than chronic, long-term exposure. Related to the current discussion, chronic exposure over a long time may be related to certain cancers, namely skin, liver, and lung.

 

I have never heard of any beneficial effects of arsenic consumption.

 

Here is a good quality article:

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1174215-overview#showall

 

I would caution people not to panic. The exposure from eating rice may not be large enough to cause any pathology. I don't think there is conclusive data yet on the long-term effects of eating rice (or apple juice for that matter). Personally, I am still planning to make my WHITE rice as usual. However, I may adopt the practice of my Asian friends, which is always to soak it for 20-30 minutes and discard the water before cooking it. :001_smile:

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I'm trying to cut rice out of our diet. It's hard when you're gluten free and have other grain allergies too. I cut out my son's favorite granola bars as they have not only brown rice but brown rice syrup as well. I'm still doing some rice though as I can't figure out what to replace with yet. I am sick about how much brown rice we've eaten over the years and those granola bars especially bother me. My son ate tons of them.

 

Can you eat kasha (buckwheat) or quinoa? They're both gluten free.

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Have people here tested their arsenic level before abandoning brown rice?

 

Mine is very low, so I'm going to continue eating brown rice.

 

That's a really good idea. It's hard to figure out "too much" based on how much rice you eat, what brand, how you personally metabolize the stuff... that would give an objective measure.

 

One summer when I was a kid, it was really hot and my mom served salad with tuna fish almost every day. At the end of the summer, she had a hair analysis done (not because of that, she just happened to do one on all of us). My parents and I all had high levels of mercury, but my brother who had been away most of the summer didn't. I've limited my tuna consumption ever since...

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Where does it say that brown rice is worse than white? And where is the listing of worst rice products? I'm probably just too tired but I honestly can't locate this info. Of course I just made a pot of brown basmati for supper. :glare:

OK, I wasn't clicking all the links in the original article.

found that info here: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/11/arsenic-in-your-food/index.htm#recommendations

Edited by Blueridge
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Where does it say that brown rice is worse than white? And where is the listing of worst rice products? I'm probably just too tired but I honestly can't locate this info. Of course I just made a pot of brown basmati for supper. :glare:

OK, I wasn't clicking all the links on the original article.

 

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/11/arsenic-in-your-food/index.htm#chart

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What people need to look at is food labels as well. Brown rice syrup has high concentrations of arsenic and is used as a 'more natural' sweetener aka HFCS alternative. Healthy granola bars/cereal bars are full of the stuff - basically everything at Trader Joe's in the packaged foods aisle too.

 

That is where I had to cut our consumption b/c we don't eat regular rice very often - maybe five times a year? - but I was giving the kids Zbars and Cliff bars when we were running errands and those have the Brown Rice Syrup in them.

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Ugh, this whole thing just makes me sick. We eat a lot of rice product.

 

I'm seriously running out of things to feed my family.

 

Gluten...no

Potatoes...no

Oats....no

Quinoa...no

 

and now rice. sigh. I can't even replace my rice flour with nut flours. No nuts.

 

Ask me how many boxes of organic hot brown rice cereal I have stocked in the pantry. :glare:

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I'm not switching. I don't trust anything Consumer Reports says. I remember them putting spark igniters in the gas tank of trucks like we used to own and triggering a recall because they wouldn't admit that they had started the explosion themselves as a "demonstration of a rare possibility". They never said that when they were in the news. Then a few years ago they did an article on car seats coming loose from the base and lied about the speeds at which the seats actually came loose. My brother bought a new car seat after that article, but a few months later (after everyone had already been scared into new seats) they admitted to a "mistake" regarding the speeds of the crashes in the video.

 

I don't trust CR, period. I was concerned about rice and arsenic until I read it was another instance of CR media hype.

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I'm not switching. I don't trust anything Consumer Reports says.

But this isn't "new" news, and the Consumer Reports numbers are in line with those of other testers, including the FDA.

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I live in China now, and, of course, eat rice at least once a day. Although you can find brown rice here, very few people choose brown over white. I wonder if this arsenic finding has been known in Asia for a while? I am a bit converned about our rice consumption, but we eat healthier here than we did in the States.

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Yes, I'm glad we buy Rooster A.A.A. Scented Jasmine rice from Thailand. I noticed that each 45 g serving has 36 g carbohydrates, 160 calories, 3 g protein, but 0% of all other daily values. :001_unsure:

 

No more Rice Krispies though. :ack2:

Guess I'm thankful that our Jasmine comes from Thailand. But I will definitely be rethinking cereals!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1892142/

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I woke up feeling rather angry about the rice thing. I personally hate the taste and texture of brown rice, but I've made my family gag it down for years. :glare: I told Dh last night while we were walking, and he seemed relieved lol. So I guess I will continue to buy the wonderful kinds of white rices at our oriental market and serve them once or twice a week, and just not worry about it!

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I woke up feeling rather angry about the rice thing.

 

 

I stay awake at night because I'm angry and stressed. My pantry is filled with rice.

 

Rice flour, rice pasta, rice cereal, rice granola, whole grain rice, rice baking mixes are things we eat daily. Yesterday we had pancakes...rice. For lunch we had chicken noodle soup....rice. I made bread.....rice. All of my gluten replacement is rice based.

 

I'd love to switch to quinoa. Can't.

 

My dh says I need to let this go, and just continue on as we have been and not think about arsenic in rice. How is that it doesn't even cross his mind? He says it's not even on his radar for being concerned about. I can't even sleep.

 

I guess I'm going to try switching the family to a paleo diet. The problem with that is the nut allergy in my kid.

Edited by Kleine Hexe
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We have switched from rice grown in the U.S. to rice grown in India.

 

My dd is dairy and nut allergic and was drinking Kirkland Rice Milk from rice grown in the U.S. So I switched her to coconut milk.

 

I don't think we will be able to avoid aresenic rice entirely, but we are definitely eliminating it where we can.

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Yes, I'm glad we buy Rooster A.A.A. Scented Jasmine rice from Thailand. I noticed that each 45 g serving has 36 g carbohydrates, 160 calories, 3 g protein, but 0% of all other daily values. :001_unsure:

 

No more Rice Krispies though. :ack2:

 

Having 0% listed on the other values doesn't mean they don't have them. It means the company didn't list them. But other than some calcium and iron, rice doesn't have vitamins.

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I'm not planning on giving up brown rice. We eat brown because white rice acts like sugar in my system. Most heavily processed grains do this to me, but white rice is the worst on my system. We only buy organic brown rice, but I will look more carefully at where we get it. One question I have ... what on earth is the benefit for feeding arsenic to chickens? (As I understand it, the chicken manure is one of the biggest sources - even among organic growers.) How did that practice come about?

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Meh. Nothing is "good for us" anymore. I'll just continue to eat and serve whatever I want, including brown rice. We don't eat a lot of rice anyway, but when we do, we eat brown about 75% of the time. I'll continue to buy the Lundberg organic and go about life.

 

A person could drive themselves straight to the loony bin if that person actually stopped and thought enough to worry about everything we eat before eating it. Seriously. Corn, not good. Sugar, not good. Red meat, not good. White meat, not good. Nuts, not good. Brown rice, not good. Grains, not good. Nothing is "good", depending who you listen to. Not worth it. I'm speaking from personal experience, btw. I almost did send myself over the edge trying to find "only the best, most nutritious, healthiest food" for my family.

 

Now...it's almost like I have PTSD - I HATE cooking & grocery shopping. HATE it, so we eat worse than we did before I started "researching" healthy food. We eat from boxes/cans/jars a lot, and we eat out way too much, so in the end we're worse off than when this all started when I did used to cook a lot more from whole foods.

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This kind of thing is the reason that I am afraid of any kind of "organic" food. I never buy anything "organic" if I can help it. Who knows what kinds of fertilizers they are putting on the food instead of the standard fertilizers? Chicken manure is likely just one example. As far as I can see, most "organic" food has not been tested for safety. I believe that arsenic in the rice may only be the beginning. Though many people disparage the FDA, I trust them a whole lot more than people who promote hearsay about things such as "natural" and "organic" products.

 

Where are you guys getting your non-USA grown rice? Amazon?

 

I buy my rice from Costco (Basmati from the Himalayas, and Jamine from Thailand).

You can also find plenty of Asian grown rice at Asian grocery stores.

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A person could drive themselves straight to the loony bin if that person actually stopped and thought enough to worry about everything we eat before eating it. Seriously. Corn, not good. Sugar, not good. Red meat, not good. White meat, not good. Nuts, not good. Brown rice, not good. Grains, not good. Nothing is "good", depending who you listen to. Not worth it. I'm speaking from personal experience, btw. I almost did send myself over the edge trying to find "only the best, most nutritious, healthiest food" for my family.

 

Now...it's almost like I have PTSD - I HATE cooking & grocery shopping. HATE it, so we eat worse than we did before I started "researching" healthy food. We eat from boxes/cans/jars a lot, and we eat out way too much, so in the end we're worse off than when this all started when I did used to cook a lot more from whole foods.

 

This has happened to me. I know despise grocery shopping. It stresses me out. Since being diagnosed with celiac and learning about my ds's food allergies buying food is mind boggling stressful for me. Throw in the *cost* of food and I hyperventilate when I walk into a grocery store.

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